Shaped body comprising a soft foam layer and a layer of a flowable material applied thereto

ABSTRACT

A shaped body, in particular mineral plates and/or mats, for protecting surfaces and/or designing surfaces for internal and external applications, for example as a floor covering or wall covering, is characterized in that a reticulated and open-cell soft foam layer is applied over the surface of a carrier layer and a flowable, dry material layer is applied over the soft foam layer, wherein the material layer meshes into the soft foam layer and is fixedly connected thereto.

The present invention relates to a shaped body, in particular mineralplates and/or mats, for protecting surfaces and/or designing surfacesfor internal and external applications.

Such mats and/or plates are presently produced in such a manner thatdefined materials are moistened and brought to the required thicknessesby pressing or are placed with binders in a flowing consistency inmoulds and then cured in these or are produced continuously in anextrusion process. These production modes have the disadvantage thatthey are necessarily form-dependent, associated with mixing processesand are dependent on temporally predefined sequences which cannot beinterrupted, for example, with regard to temperatures and pot lives.

The object of the present invention consists in:

-   a) making the production process with dry and liquid components    become independent of adhering to specific sequence times;-   b) being able to interrupt the production process at any time    without any disadvantage, for example, in order to allow alternative    continuations of the production, in particular to exchange    individual components or add others;-   c) providing the plates or mats produced with the capability that    the elements are absorbent and allow complete impregnation with    another binder so that the plates or mats adjacent to one another    form a uniform surface due to the uniform impregnation and hardening    in order to be able to ensure a uniform join between mats or plates    under the carrier layer located thereunder with the stresses between    the plates and mats being compensated;-   d) applying the mats or plates in the moist state before binding to    uneven, for example, corrugated carriers so that after binding, they    have taken on the form of the substrate.

The object is achieved according to the invention by the characterisingfeatures of claim 1.

A reticulated, open-cell soft foam, in particular a PU soft foam, cut tothe thickness of the mats or plates (FIG. 1, soft foam layer 1) andspecifically in thicknesses of in particular 3 mm and a pore size of inparticular 1.0 to 1.5 mm is fixedly (FIG. 1 carrier layer 3) orremovably (FIG. 1, detachable carrier layer 2) plane-fixed to a carriermaterial.

The carrier layer 2, 3 can consist of plastic films, paper, hard foamplates, wood or metal plates or the like.

Applied to the soft foam layer 1 is a flowable dry material (FIG. 1, drymaterial layer 6), in particular sand having grain sizes of inparticular 0.1 to 0.5 mm, consisting of quartzites, calcites, granites,metal granules or the like which can be mixed dry with cement, gypsum orpowdery synthetic silicate binders, powdery synthetic thermosetting orthermoplastic binders, so that all the cells of the soft foam layer 1are filled.

The soft foam layer 1 filled with the dry material layer 6 is

-   a) sprayed or nebulised with water and/or modified water;-   b) sprayed or perfused with low-viscosity, liquid synthetic or    natural resins (FIG. 1; layer 7);    wherein the synthetic resins in this case can consist of: epoxy    resins, acrylic resins, PU resins, polyester resins, melamine resins    or the like;-   c) the liquid substances specified under b) can be solidified in the    dry powdery thermoplastic state by heat and pressure; and-   d) are sprayed or perfused with liquid water glass.

If the material (layer 7) located on the surface exceeds the thicknessof in particular 3 mm, it is removed by stripping, and covered andjoined with fabric, paper (FIG. 1, item 4), plastic (FIG. 1, reinforcinglayer 5) or other materials. The covering can either be used temporarilyto protect the layer 7 during transport before being removedsubsequently or it remains joined to the layer.

The mats or plates thus produced can be produced with an intermediatelayer of different reinforcing layers 5, also in a plurality of layersone above the other in order to effect a greater load-bearing capacityand stability. In this case, the stacked plates or mats can also consistof different types of materials in order to be able to satisfy differentrequirement profiles.

The mats or plates thus produced are applied in the state not yet bound(FIG. 2, soft foam layer 1) to corrugated, cylindrical or irregularlyshaped carriers (FIG. 2, carrier layer 3) and take on the shape of thecarrier after binding.

REFERENCE LIST

-   1 Soft foam layer-   2 Detachable carrier layer-   3 Carrier layer-   5 Reinforcing layer-   6 Dry material layer-   7 Layer

1. A method for producing shaped bodies, in particular mineral plates ormats, for protecting surfaces and/or designing surfaces for internal andexternal applications, characterised in that a reticulated soft foam inthicknesses of in particular 3 mm, having pore sizes of in particular1.0 to 1.5 mm, is plane-fixed to a carrier material; that a flowable drymaterial having grain sizes of in particular 0.1 to 0.5 mm is applied tothe soft foam in such a manner that all the cells of the soft foam arethereby filled; that onto the soft foam thus treated and filled withflowable material, either water is sprayed or nebulised thereon, orlow-viscosity liquid synthetic or natural resins are cast or sprayedthereon or liquid water glass is sprayed or cast thereon and that toomuch applied material is removed by stripping.
 2. The method accordingto claim 1, characterised in that the flowable material consists ofsands and/or metal granules.
 3. The method according to claim 2,characterised in that the sands are selected from a group consisting ofquartzites, calcites, granites.
 4. The method according to claim 1,characterised in that a covering of fabric, paper, plastic or the likeis then applied to the surface of the soft foam filled with treatedmaterial.
 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,characterised in that the low-viscosity liquid synthetic resins areselected from a group consisting of epoxy resins, acrylic resins, PURresins, polyester resins, melamine resins.
 6. The method according toany one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that a hard foam, wood ormetal plate is used as solid carrier material.
 7. The method accordingto any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that a plastic film orpaper is used as flexible carrier material.
 8. The method according toany one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that before filling, theflowable material to be poured into the soft foam is mixed dry with amaterial from the group consisting of cement, gypsum, powdery syntheticsilicate binders, powdery synthetic thermosetting or thermoplasticbinders.
 9. A method for producing shaped bodies, in particular mineralplates or mats, for protecting surfaces and/or designing surfaces forinternal and external applications, characterised in that a reticulatedsoft foam in thicknesses of in particular 3 mm, having pore sizes of inparticular 1.0 to 1.5 mm, is plane-fixed to a carrier material; that aflowable dry material having grain sizes of in particular 0.1 to 0.5 mmis applied to the soft foam in such a manner that all the cells of thesoft foam are thereby filled; that before filling, the flowable materialto be poured into the soft foam is mixed dry with a material from thegroup consisting of cement, gypsum, powdery synthetic silicate binders,powdery synthetic thermosetting or thermoplastic binders; and that toomuch applied material is removed by stripping.
 10. The method accordingto claim 9, characterised in that the powdery, synthetic, thermosettingor thermoplastic binders mixed with the flowable powdery material andpoured into the soft foam are fused by means of heat and pressure. 11.The method according to claim 10, characterised in that the flowablematerial consists of sands and/or metal granules.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 11, characterised in that the sands are selected froma group consisting of quartzites, calcites, granites.
 13. The methodaccording to any one of claims 9 to 12, characterised in that a coveringof fabric, paper, plastic or the like is then applied permanently ordetachably to the surface of the soft foam filled with treated material.14. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterised inthat a hard foam, wood or metal plate is used as solid carrier material.15. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterised inthat a plastic film or paper is used as flexible carrier material. 16.The method according to any one of claims 9 to 15, characterised in thatonto the soft foam thus treated and filled with flowable material,either water is sprayed or nebulised thereon, or low-viscosity liquidsynthetic or natural resins are cast or sprayed thereon or liquid waterglass is sprayed or cast thereon.